US, internal power behind Zia`s killing: Ex-Pakistani spymaster

Islamabad: US and "internal powers" were behind the 1988 plane crash that killed General Zia-ul-Haq, who ruled Pakistan from 1978 till his death, a former Pakistani spymaster has claimed.

Imtiaz Ahmed, a former chief of the Intelligence
Bureau, said the US collaborated with "internal powers" in
Pakistan to assassinate Zia.

Ahmed, who also served in the ISI, has shaken up
political parties with revelations of huge payments allegedly
made by the Inter-Services Intelligence to strengthen the
opposition to former premier Benazir Bhutto in 1990.

"Former army chief Gen Mirza Aslam Beg also says that
Zia`s plane crash was not an accident, but sabotage," he told
a TV news channel.

Zia came to power after overthrowing the then Prime
Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto in 1977, the third ruler to
impose martial law.

He initially ruled as the Chief Martial Law
Administrator, but later installed himself as the President of
Pakistan in September 1978.

Zia`s death in a military plane crash in August 1988
remains shrouded in mystery, which has given rise to several
conspiracy theories.

Reports have suggested the plane crashed due to
sabotage or mechanical failure.

Reacting to Ahmed`s claim, Zia`s son Ijaz-ul-Haq
demanded that a thorough criminal investigation should be
conducted into the plane crash.